Former Harvard president feuds with university over response to terrorism against Israel

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Israeli military official shows remnants of Hamas terror attack

FOX News Trey Yingst speaks to Maj. Doron Spielman of the IDF near the Israel-Gaza border, where Israeli civilians were killed and others abducted. (WARNING: This footage contains graphic content.)

In several posts on X, Harvard President Emeritus Lawrence "Larry" Summers has been criticizing his former school’s disappointing response following Hamas’ terrorist attack against Israel over the course of the past few days.

"In nearly 50 years of @Harvard affiliation, I have never been as disillusioned and alienated as I am today," Summers began in a post Monday.

He continued, "The silence from Harvard’s leadership, so far, coupled with a vocal and widely reported student groups' statement blaming Israel solely, has allowed Harvard to appear at best neutral towards acts of terror against the Jewish state of Israel."

Summers was reacting to a joint statement released shortly after a series of deadly attacks by Hamas terrorists across southern Israel on Saturday by more than two dozen Harvard student organizations that condemned Israel as "entirely responsible" for the violence.

More than two dozen Harvard student organizations signed a joint statement on Saturday that said Israel was "entirely responsible" for the violence that occurred following the Hamas attack. (Scott Eisen/Getty Images)

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"We, the undersigned student organizations, hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence," the students' statement began.

It continued, "Today’s events did not occur in a vacuum. For the last two decades, millions of Palestinians in Gaza have been forced to live in an open-air prison. Israeli officials promise to ‘open the gates of hell,’ and the massacres in Gaza have already commenced. Palestinians in Gaza have no shelters for refuge and nowhere to escape. In the coming days, Palestinians will be forced to bear the full brunt of Israel’s violence."

Summers continued his posts Monday, "Unlike [former] President Bacow’s strong statement of support for Ukraine after Putin’s invasion and the decision to fly the Ukraine flag over Harvard yard...or Dean Gay’s powerful statement on police violence, we have as yet - 48 hours later - no official Harvard statement at this time of moral testing."

"Instead, Harvard is being defined by the morally unconscionable statement apparently coming from two dozen student groups blaming all the violence on Israel. I am sickened. I cannot fathom the Administration’s failure to disassociate the University and condemn this statement.

"I very much hope appropriate statements from the University and College condemning those who launched terrorist attacks and standing in solidarity with its victims will soon be forthcoming," he added.

Harvard University finally released a statement regarding the war on Monday evening.

"We write to you today heartbroken by the death and destruction unleashed by the attack by Hamas that targeted citizens in Israel this weekend, and by the war in Israel and Gaza now under way," the statement began.

It continued, "The violence hits all too close to home for many at Harvard. Some members of our community have lost family members and friends; some have been unable to reach loved ones. And, even for people at Harvard who have not been affected directly by the fighting, there are feelings of fear, sadness, anger, and more that create a heavy burden. We have heard from many students, faculty, and staff about the emotional toll that these events are taking."

Israelis evacuate a site struck by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, in Ashkelon, southern Israel, on Monday, Oct. 9. (AP/Ohad Zwigenberg)

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Summers denounced this "delayed" statement, as well, reiterating that it lacked the "moral clarity" of past statements regarding the Russia invasion of Ukraine.

"The delayed @Harvard leadership statement fails to meet the needs of the moment. Why can’t we find anything approaching the moral clarity of Harvard statements after George Floyd's death or Russia's invasion of Ukraine when terrorists kill, rape and take hostage hundreds of Israelis attending a music festival?" he wrote on X Tuesday.

Summers continued, "Why can’t we give reassurance that the University stands squarely against Hamas terror to frightened students when 35 groups of their fellow students appear to be blaming all the violence on Israel?"

In a statement released soon after Summers' latest comments, current Harvard President Claudine Gay addressed the backlash from the student organizations' statement and maintained that it does not represent the school as a whole.

"As the events of recent days continue to reverberate, let there be no doubt that I condemn the terrorist atrocities perpetrated by Hamas. Such inhumanity is abhorrent, whatever one’s individual views of the origins of longstanding conflicts in the region," her message read.

"Let me also state, on this matter as on others, that while our students have the right to speak for themselves, no student group — not even 30 student groups — speaks for Harvard University or its leadership."

It concluded, "We will all be well served in such a difficult moment by rhetoric that aims to illuminate and not inflame. And I appeal to all of us in this community of learning to keep this in mind as our conversations continue."

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Summers has yet to publicly respond to this new statement from the Harvard president and did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.

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